SOUTHEAST MIDDLE SCHOOL
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011
1. The WSFCS Anti-Bullying Day is now scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 12, NOT Thursday as previously announced. All staff and students are encouraged to wear orange on this day to support anti-bullying efforts. I will communicate this to our parents on the next AlertNow message.
2. All staff are highly encouraged to join the PTSA. The cost is $5.00. There are incentives for any staff members who join. You will receive a new SEMS car magnet and have your name in the drawing for some gift certificates to area businesses and restaurants.
3. When a student leaves your room to go to another location (i.e. main office, administrator, bathroom, etc.), please remember to sign their planner. They must carry their planner or they will be asked to return back to your classroom.
4. Don't forget to fill out your United Way contribution forms and return to Janie Murray. Staff are highly encouraged, but not required, to donate to the cause. The United Way has some excellent programs that benefit our students and families, so please consider giving.
5. Please be sure that your safety clipboards are hanging by your classroom doors. Your clipboard should have an updated copy of all of your rosters. In addition, please carry your safety clipboard with you during any drill or emergency.
6. In November, we will have a Monday afternoon staff development session where staff members can choose their mini-workshop. We will provide a variety of sessions to choose from and everyone will receive credit for attending. More information will follow as we plan.
7. We are very excited about the activities and lessons that we are seeing in the classrooms during our walkthroughs. We will share classroom walkthrough data with you after the first quarter. Our focus question on the walkthrough is the level of questioning taking place, either through class discussion or the actual activity that the students are completing. Are you asking recall questions, or are you taking it to a higher level? Categories on the walkthrough form are: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. Consider these when planning your daily lessons and activities.
8. We no longer have a traffic officer at the main entrance in the afternoons for dismissal. Please let us know if you have any parent complaints regarding the dismissal.
9. Please do NOT send any students to the Guidance Office or Main Office to make up a test or assignment. You will need to take care of that in your classroom or coordinate with another teacher. The staff in these offices do not provide services for supervising students in that capacity.
10. This month is Bully Prevention Month. WSFCS has come up with some lessons for teachers to use related to bullying. I will forward those to you should you want to use them. In addition, we will post announcements or scrolls every few days related to bullying. If you have any great ideas, let us know!
11. Please remember that if you need to take a sick day, register that with the Subfinder system as quickly as possible. If it's after 5:30am and you have not registered your absence, please call Susie at 399-6102.
12. If you need to contact me after hours or on weekends, first call my school Blackberry at 345-7985. If you have an emergency, you may call or text my personal cell at 317-4412. But please do not contact me on my personal cell if it is not an emergency (i.e. you want permission for something the next day).
13. The cafeteria has a new system for students who accumulate a large negative balance on their accounts. If a student goes over the limit ($15.00), then we will give them one week to pay it off. If not paid, the student will go on a voucher meal in the cafeteria until it is paid off. Debbie Miller, Cafeteria Manager, will give the homebase teacher a voucher slip for that particular student. So far this year we have three students on this plan. We are still ironing out the details for teacher notification, so we will continue to communicate with you during this process.
14. The first music concert will be the chorus concert on Tuesday, October 18. The orchestra concert will be on Tuesday, December 6, and the band concert is scheduled for Thursday, December 8. There will be two separate shifts available for the chorus concert (setup crew and then the actual concert). I will notify you when the sign-up sheets are ready to be posted for these events. Any certified teachers who did not work one of the September socials are expected to sign up for one of the concert events.
Happy Birthday!
Mara-Lea Coston - Oct. 3
Andy Suttles - Oct. 14
Tonia Maxcy - Oct. 14
Blanca Oliver - Oct. 16
Nancy Holmes - Oct. 16
John Watson - Oct. 24
Shasta Lowther - Oct. 25
Bill Martin - Oct. 26
Teresa Hilbun - Oct. 29
Events: Events are now posted on the online calendar. Staff are expected to check the online staff calendar regularly for upcoming meetings, etc.
